Exposition by Max A Forsythe
Christ Covenant Reformed (PCA)
One of the most interesting peculiarities of the American quadrennial race for the White House is the fascinating accumulation of political and economic debts that come to load down the candidates so that they can no longer be their own men! We can certainly appreciate that the Wall Mart and Tyson corporations had more on their minds than legal advice when the future first mate was invited to sit on their board of directors for some years for what you and I would consider more than generous terms. In fact, conservative scholars and politicians are also kept supplied with regular jobs at more than "meaningful salaries" when they are out of office. Mrs Dole and Mrs Quail have always been well employed to support the image and finances of their families. One former congressman that I once knew, never had to worry about a job, when he left Congress to run for higher office and lost, he immediately was offered a prime position until the next time he would like to take a run. Another congressman that I knew, would always use a lower office as his base for moving up to the next office. And it was kind of humorous to guess what he intended to do with any office once he was elected. Now that he has reached the Senate, he must be too busy to consider the next step!
I mention all of this to demonstrate the fact that in this life it is very difficult to be considered successful without accumulating a basketful of debts either privately or publicly. Hardly any business person, educator, candidate, or even minister can go very far up the career ladder without some debt of one kind or another. I well remember when I was appointed to the Republican Central Committee in my county, all of a sudden I was considered for the presidency of the county ministerial organization as well. Heady stuff for a small town boy! Providentially, I was too independent for the movers and shakers. I publicly questioned the ethics of some shady political and ministerial dealings and soon found myself cast out into the darkness.
The whole two year process reminded me of a mad Czar of Russia who one night was riding his sleigh around Moscow. He stopped to pick up a freezing private of the Grenadier Guard and promoting him to general of that Guard within twenty minutes. Several nights later he invited the General for another sleigh ride and ended up dropping him in rank right back down to the level of his old guard shack again! At least the "new" private no longer had any outstanding debts or obligations!
How important it is within Christ's Church to "owe no man anything, save to love one another" as John Murray translates our opening verse today. How often even within the Christian Church today, this ideal falls so far short! In some places whole congregations are held hostage to trendy practices, in others rigid control is the established order, in still others, its not what you think but who you are. And of course our list of dysfunctions could go on and on. "Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellow man has fulfilled the law."
So that we understand that this fulfillment of love is within mutual human relations, Paul goes on to list the same commandments that Jesus once used to teach us to "love your neighbor as yourself." In this way, "love is the fulfillment of the law." This does not mean as some teach that love is the law, but instead the love of Christ that fills us flows out from us to our brethren and neighbors. This instruction does not mean like the popular song "All you need is love" or the popular appeal "Can't we all just get along?". No indeed, there is in this passage a higher purpose, even as we are filled with the power of the Spirit through whom the love of God saves us, even so are we to spread that love abroad to all men great and small. The debt that we owe all men is to love them as God loved us. In this way, the knowledge and love of God is spread abroad. The injunction in verse eleven holds us to this understanding because there must be a purpose to God's great love for us while we were yet sinners.
In our salvation, He is glorified, and in our love for others, he is to be made known. Wake up!, Paul is admonishing the Roman Church, let your love so shine that all men are attracted to our Christ and our God. Time has passed since you were first saved, isn't it time that the debt enjoined in this passage at least receives a little interest? "The night is nearly over; the day is almost here", the apostle promises. We know that the Roman churches had a very difficult time getting established and persecution was very real for too many decades. Even in our own land, the light of the Gospel grows weaker and weaker as more and more people change the church and its doctrines to appeal to the worldly. The Church certainly does not need any more of the world, but the world absolutely needs more of the light of Christ being reflected from His Church and the elected saints.
Implicit here in this passage is the blessed hope that Christ shall one day return. One of my commentators discussed the nature of that hope in the first century. He suggested that the early apostles and fathers of the Church understood that there would be a great falling away from the faith before the final coming. Here it is two millennia later and we well understand that that great falling is in the midst of being fulfilled. More accurately than the readers of Paul's time, we may greatly appreciate that "the day is almost here". Therefore to better serve our Lord, we have much work to do. There are habits, attitudes and desires to be put away. "Let us behave decently," Paul enjoins us! Look carefully at verse thirteen at the things we are not to do.
Of course, there are not yet organized congregations celebrating wild orgies and drunkenness. But there are denominations where sexual immorality and debauchery are tolerated. One liberal Church conference refused to discipline a minister who hung out in a strip club because he thought he was witnessing to the entertainers when he stuffed money into their stockings! Again, in too many places sodomite relationships are tolerated and even encouraged because "all you need is love" as their song goes, it doesn't matter what kind of love it is. Whew, thank goodness we are spared these ongoing problems in our beloved Presbyterian Church in America. Well, let us go on to the end of verse thirteen. Do you see the debt of love being paid in dissension and jealousy? Of course not, but once the brethren in Christ allow even this much of the world to seep into its politics and practices, the downward slide has begun and the word from Paul we hear today is most apt and needed.
So we come to the end of the matter in verse fourteen: "clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature." Always and forever, we are called back to our first love: Jesus Christ. He who died on the cross that we might be forgiven for every sin, great and small. Now how do we clothe ourselves. It is not in a peculiar mode of dress, not in specific details of beards and hair cuts! No indeed, it is in putting on that great love which He showed us. He died for us, and we are indebted to Him. May the Lord our God through the power of His Spirit enable us to demonstrate the eternal love of Christ so that all men may see Him and that through us, the elect of all the nations may be brought into eternal fellowship with our God.
Resources Used: The Holy Bible, New International Version
Places Preached:Hodge, Charles. Romans. Mackenzie, R. Calvin's New Testament Commentaries: Romans. Murray, John. New International Commentary: Epistle to Romans.
Christ Covenant REFORMED (Presbyterian Church in America) Post Office Box 13926 - Columbus, OH 43213-7926
Rom13b.htm 11 February 96
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